What does the name Usher symbolize in The Fall of the House of Usher?

When Roderick dies, there will be no one to carry on the name. According to Poe, the whole story is symbolic of the Apocalypse, the end of the world. The decrepit nature of the house itself symbolizes the deconstruction of the Usher family.

How does the House of Usher represent the Usher family?

The House of Usher refers to both the house and the family. The ghastly images inside the house symbolize the madness of the house’s inhabitants. The collapsing of the house straight down into the tarn symbolizes the linear fashion of the Usher’s family tree and its ultimate collapse.

What does Roderick Usher symbolize?

I think it would be safe to argue that he is symbolic of a family secret, an evil. Most probably interpret it as incest. He is the last of the Usher line, which means the secret dies with him.

Why was it called the House of Usher?

The title refers not just to the literal fall of the physical house, but the metaphorical fall of the Usher family. The narrator revealed that Roderick and his sister were the last two alive in the family, so when they die, so dies the whole family. This decline, too, is foreshadowed in the text.

What are the two meanings of The Fall of the House of Usher?

The narrator makes a point of telling us that the term “The House of Usher” refers no only to the estate, but to the family as well, the Usher bloodline. The title refers not just to the literal fall of the physical house, but the metaphorical fall of the Usher family.

What was wrong with the ushers in the Fall of the House of Usher?

Roderick Usher is not well. While parts of his affliction seem to manifest themselves physically, in his overly-acute senses, his illness is primarily a mental one. One conclusion to be drawn from the final scene is that Roderick dies of fear.

Why did Usher bury his sister alive?

Madeline soon dies, and Roderick decides to bury her temporarily in the tombs below the house. He wants to keep her in the house because he fears that the doctors might dig up her body for scientific examination, since her disease was so strange to them.

What does the title of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher foreshadow?

The title of the story includes the word fall which foreshadows the ending of the Usher family line. The decreped state of the house described in the begining foreshadows the dissolution of the Usher family.

What do purple curtains symbolize?

The lamplight serves as the catalyst for the poem’s chilling closing image. Two of the poem’s scenic details are conspicuously purple: the “purple curtain” and the chair, with its “velvet violet lining.” In both Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian symbolic systems, purple serves as a mark of class and aristocracy.

Why does the raven keep saying nevermore?

The word nevermore is a reminder from the Raven that the speaker will see his lost love Lenore never again, and the raven is a reminder of his sorrow that won’t leave.